Wednesday 13th December 2017, MORE SHORTIES

I couldn't resist, Colin Dalton has once again sent me a suite of SEO photographs, and the light is so good I know you would want to see them, however before that...

Contractors are on site at Morfa Berwig, carrying out fencing and path maintenance as well as habitat management in the brownfield area near the roundabout and in all of the grazing fields, and making the parking area at the roundabout entrance a bit more spacious, (if you see fly tipping here or anywhere else, please report it on 01267-234567).

A new "temporary" sign has gone in at the Berwig Road entrance.

The habitat management may look harsh but the vegetation will soon recover and the bare areas will provide consistently great habitat for invertebrates, allowing the vegetation to take over diminishes the value of the site for invertebrates, Morfa Berwig has a number of nationally and locally rare species.

Photos to follow...

Pembrey Saltmarsh, please do not wander out onto the marsh it just disturbs the wintering birds, we only go out there to carry out monthly counts and do so in an organised manner.

Now those Owls....

Never too many shorties, Sunday 10th December 2017

SNOW...., well a few flakes for a few minutes, still SNOW... mind you trying to hammer staples and handle barbed wire in this mornings cold was fun!

Still to brighten up a winters day here are a few more of Colin Daltons, Short-eared Owl photographs from Saturday evening.

Photographs are copyright of Colin Dalton

Listening and looking,

Chase on?, Skylark flushed

The two Sparrowhawks muscling in on the Shorties hunting

Owls and Cows (or more correctly cattle) Saturday 9th December 2017

A late afternoon visit to Pembrey Burrows was rewarded with great views of TWO Short-eared Owls, 

They had been seen earlier by Colin Dalton, who joined me in the hut to enjoy the birds hunting, displaying and chasing off a Sparrowhawk , one of two seen right outside the hut, one even landed on my water height post!

Photographs and videos were nigh on impossible for me this afternoon, I just couldn't get the birds in focus long enough to press the shutter, I'm sure Colin will share some of his photos in the next few days.

Colin casually mentioned two things, A MERLIN seen earlier and that he had seen the fence in F3 broken!, I had made a mental note that I hadn't seen the five bullocks on my way in.

I tore myself away from the owls to first bump into Ray Woods another photographer, then to discover the fence was in fact damaged with tell tale hoof prints and cow pats on the wrong side of the fence ! WHY WHY!

A climb to the top of a sand dune and I spied two of the escapees, a word with a couple of horse riders, who casually mentioned the cattle had been on the BEACH but had headed back onto the dunes, and all five appeared......

Some cattle wrangling driving a rattle of a bin bag and a hand from a passing member of the public saw the five eventually back in their field.

A full afternoon but great birds logged thanks to the visiting photographers, 
MERLIN, KESTREL, SPARROWHAWK, SEO, RAVEN.

Following doctors orders can be fun...........

Friday 8th December 2017

Well it's certainly feeling a lot colder, what "cold weather" movements will we see, I hope wildfowl put in an appearance as currently numbers are low to non-existent.

A few more Common Snipe would be nice, as would a harrier or two, not fussy about species but they are overdue compared to 2016.

Still we have the SHORT-EARED OWLS, now at least three possibly four but they are elusive which makes me think they are commuters between Glamorgan and Carmarthenshire.

A few birders and photographers have been out looking for them with varying success, Colin Dalton kindly me sent the following photos with permission to use them in the blog, Thanks Colin. Anyone willing to share their photographs please email them over, can't promise to use every one but it would be nice to use local photographs if I haven't got decent ones myself. (or you could club together to buy me a decent camera!)

All photographs are copyright of Colin Dalton

Magical, you can never have too many Short-eared Owls.

Sunday 3rd December 2017

What motivates you to get out and experience the coast and countryside?
Do you like the solitude, easy to find on the wide expanse of Cefn Sidan?
Do you prefer company and enjoy joining a group or partaking in a guided walk?

Why is he asking these questions you may be thinking, well it's planning time for the events for 2018, and whilst 132 people took part in last years events attendance at individual events was a bit sporadic. Maybe it was too focussed on Pembrey LNR?

In 2018 we intend to spread the events across as many of the local nature reserves/natural spaces in the county as possible. With a choice of six sites it makes sense to use them if we can.

Carmarthenshire Local Nature Reserves

West - East  Pembrey, Ashpits, Pwll Lagoon, North Dock, Morfa Berwig

and in the NE of the county Ynys Dawela Nature Park

There are currently 14 planned events spread over April to September (dates to be confirmed), with two programmes, April, May and June; and then July, August and September, with some planned to coincide with the school holidays.

If you have attended any of the events over the last two years do you have any suggestions for 2018?

Brave souls on a sea watch

December, the start of Meteorological WINTER Friday 1st December

Not as frosty as recent days, and much less wind than forecast - could have gone ringing!

Anyway I visited Morfa Berwig LNR this morning with a view to finding additional ringing rides, I know its a wetland site, but give me a break, too deep too boggy, but I did find a nice area albeit wet, as an additional net ride.

In the process I disturbed a new bird for the site in the wonderfully camouflaged form of a WOODCOCK, it clattered through the willows before landing again, a good record.

Woodcock

Water Rails are well spread through the reserve with at least three calling this morning, a flock of c15 Long tailed Tits, with a mix of Blue, and Great Tits, Goldcrest and Robins, there were at least six Robins along the Afon Goch path.

A Raven and a single Lapwing overhead completed my visit.

Shorties show up Sunday 26th November 2017

I have been reading reports on the Carmarthenshire Bird Club sightings pages of a Short-eared Owl being seen on the reserve at Pembrey.

This evening I took myself off to see if I could get to grips with this magical owl, sure enough around 15:30 an Owl appeared, my attention being drawn to it by a couple of birders who were out on the marsh!

When I wandered over to have a chat I could see that there were TWO Short-eared Owls hunting over the lower marsh I love "shorties".

Short-eared Owl,

(I wish it was my photograph)

There was some interaction between one of the owls and the local male Kestrel, but I don't think they need to fight over food as my feelings are that there is a good supply of Voles.

Last year the owls only paid fleeting visits to the reserve, presumably wandering over from "Glamorgan", lets hope they stay longer this year.

Probably the best place to see them from is the information hut in the middle of the reserve, or along the path which runs along the edge of the Sea Buckthorn and the edge of the marsh, late afternoon is likely to be the best time.

The bird list for the reserve is a bit light this year at only 126 species V 141 last year, please remember to submit any bird records for the reserve to the CBC sightings page or send a list in the comments box on the blog.